The Review: Guitarist Josh Smith played two shows on Saturday and was running on fumes by the time I caught up with him at the Poorhouse in Fort Lauderdale. The Pembroke Pines native and lead guitarist in the Taylor Hicks band played with Taylor at Mizner Park in Boca... let's call that the money show. I didn't see it, won't write about it, but thankfully, Smith and some pals found the energy to hit the Poorhouse later on and played a raucous set of blues, rock, and jazz that was incredible. Let's call that the real show.
It was evident during his set, which didn't get going until around 2am that Josh and his pals on stage were all superior musicians. They transitioned from blues to jazz to rock tunes in one fluid motion and the crowd loved it. Smith was playing with a variation of his old band, but also had a saxophone player from Taylor's band that wanted to get an extra session in and the crowd was glad that he did.
I didn't get the set list, but at one point, the band played a killer version of John Coltrane's Footprints and drummer, John Yarling had a solo for the ages. By 3:30am, Smith was whipped and looked like he needed some sleep, but the audience was glad he held out as long as he did. --Jonathan Cunningham

Critics Notebook:Personal Bias: This music was much better than the over-hyped reggae concert going on next door at Revolution.

Random Detail: Blues sounds great with a saxophone on stage. Who knew?